How To Cook Sweet Potatoes – The Three Secret Tricks!

How to cook sweet potatoes that will yield the absolute BEST sweet potatoes you’ve ever tried in your life:

Hot, caramelized baked sweet potatoes.

These 3 easy tricks will revolutionize the way you think of sweet potatoes – If you’re anything like me, prepare to become completely obsessed.

And if you think there’s no way you could love sweet potatoes more than you already do, just wait. It’s highly likely you’ll suddenly find yourself craving sweet potatoes at every single meal and dreaming about them between meals as well. If you think I’m exaggerating… this is something you just have to try in order to believe the shocking difference in results.

Instead of only slightly sweet or unevenly cooked sweet potatoes, these three small changes in how to cook sweet potatoes will yield sweet, sticky, wonderfully caramelized sweet potatoes that taste almost like candy.

Sweet, sticky, gooey, candy-like sweet potatoes…

Okay, so if I’ve caught your attention, here are the 3 tricks!

Trick One:

Choose thinner sweet potatoes.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, and conventional wisdom will tell you to go for the fattest, juiciest-looking sweet potatoes at the store, ignoring the picked-over, anemic, and shriveled ones. But that would be a mistake, and here’s why:

While baking, the heat will evenly cook even the very center of the thinner potatoes, getting them all hot and caramelized; whereas with the fat potatoes, the outsides will be done well before the centers have a chance to cook through.

(That middle sweet potato is the perfect size and shape.)

Trick Two:

Don’t just poke a few holes with a fork; use a large knife to slash about a third of the way into the potato 8-10 times on both sides.

Why this works: It helps the heat get all the way into the centers of the potatoes, once again ensuring they will cook evenly. It also allows moisture to escape so you don’t end up steaming the potato and getting stuck with a watered-down result.

Trick Three:

Cook longer and hotter.

Just like with my tutorial on How To Cook Spaghetti Squash, you want to forget the tutorials that tell you to bake at 350. Go big or go home.

How big?

I’m talking 450 F – a full hundred degrees more. And start the potatoes in a non-preheated oven, which will cook them more evenly while also saving energy. Baking at a higher temperature will really caramelize the natural sugars in the sweet potatoes.

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes – The Three Secret Tricks!

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes

Large Knife

Parchment Paper

Toppings of choice

Instructions

*Be sure to use parchment paper to line the pan. As they caramelize, the sweet potatoes release their natural sugars, which can be a pain to clean if you don’t line the pan. With parchment, you can just throw the paper away, making cleanup super easy.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and set aside. Start with thin, evenly shaped sweet potatoes. Slice the knife into each sweet potato 8-10 times per potato, going about a third of the way down with each cut. Place potatoes in the pan, then place the pan on the oven center rack. Now turn the oven on to 450 F. Bake 30 minutes, then turn (unless they are very small, they’re probably not done yet) and continue to bake until sweet potatoes are soft and you can see that some of the natural sugars have spread onto the parchment paper (see photo). This means the potatoes are starting to caramelize. Sweet potatoes can be served immediately, or you can refrigerate or even freeze for a later date. Serving suggestions are listed in the post – my favorite way to eat roasted sweet potatoes is covered with tahini.

Thanks for the tips. Never thought of freezing portions… as I live alone that might be great.
I like to slice them in half long-wise, rub the cut surface with oil… and bake at a high temp… Then I get carmelized goodness on the whole surface, and I only usually eat half anyway.

I’m trying out the GM diet and was looking for a good way to cook up a potato or sweet potato. Saw this and and knew I had to try. I baked one up yesterday night so I could bring it for breakfast this morning. I wish I could have eaten it right out of the oven, smelled so good! Chomped down the whole thing with a touch of tahini and lemon juice on top. So good!! I will be trying this again!

I have found that starting with a long, long temp bake first, to convert the starches to sugars and THEN go hot/big to caramelize works even better! 250 or even 200 for a couple hours, until fork soft then crank it up for a little while…. There’s an enzyme in them that activates with heat and does the conversion but as soon as it gets too hot, the conversion of starches to sugars stops! So low and slow then hot and fierce.